A blood test is shown to be feasible and safe for early detection of multiple cancers in women with no current or known history of cancer, enabling early treatment with curative intent in a subset of individuals.

Cancer patients infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) appear to be at higher risk of severe outcomes, including death, but cancer type and treatment serve as better predictors, according to recent research presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2020 Virtual Annual Meeting I.

At the time of writing, COVID-19 has spread to more than 200 countries and territories, affecting an estimated 4.5 million people and killing over 300,000. Cancer, on the other hand, is newly diagnosed in 18 million people and takes the lives of 10 million every year.

“We have invited physician scientists who are at the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic, taking care of patients with cancer. They gathered prospective information to understand the effects of COVID-19 on patients with cancer, are testing new treatments, and are making this knowledge available to the global research community, so we can all benefit from their experience,” said Professor Antoni Ribas from UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, US, chairperson of the COVID-19 and cancer plenary session of the meeting.

Patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have a past medical history of pneumonitis are at increased risk of treatment-related pneumonitis (TAP) from immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) regimens or chemotherapy alone, an analysis of clinical trial and real-world data has shown.

Compared with insufficiently and sufficiently active participants, those who were inactive were more likely to be female, of lower socioeconomic status, and with higher body mass index and poorer perceived health.

Over a median follow-up of 9 years, 254 participants (16.5 percent) developed cancer, of which 71 were diagnosed in the first 2 years of follow-up. The most common cancers were breast (13.0 percent), lung (11.8 percent), colon (9.8 percent) and prostate (9.1 percent). In addition, a total of 370 participants died during follow-up with no preceding cancer diagnosis.

A blood test is shown to be feasible and safe for early detection of multiple cancers in women with no current or known history of cancer, enabling early treatment with curative intent in a subset of individuals.

Cancer patients infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) appear to be at higher risk of severe outcomes, including death, but cancer type and treatment serve as better predictors, according to recent research presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2020 Virtual Annual Meeting I.

At the time of writing, COVID-19 has spread to more than 200 countries and territories, affecting an estimated 4.5 million people and killing over 300,000. Cancer, on the other hand, is newly diagnosed in 18 million people and takes the lives of 10 million every year.

“We have invited physician scientists who are at the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic, taking care of patients with cancer. They gathered prospective information to understand the effects of COVID-19 on patients with cancer, are testing new treatments, and are making this knowledge available to the global research community, so we can all benefit from their experience,” said Professor Antoni Ribas from UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, US, chairperson of the COVID-19 and cancer plenary session of the meeting.

Patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have a past medical history of pneumonitis are at increased risk of treatment-related pneumonitis (TAP) from immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) regimens or chemotherapy alone, an analysis of clinical trial and real-world data has shown.